"Norma" <norma2339@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:vqhv6bv2kql98@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> "Petit Alexi" <petitealexi@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> news:Xns942A81FA55975petitalexicathscouk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > jstevh@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(James Harris) wrote in
> > news:3c65f87.0311010647.6bd7e7ad@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > > I'm considering writing up a guide to posting on newsgroups.
> >
> > Why? Why would your guide be better than any of the very many guides
> > available...
>
> Actually there are several already in existence. I will have to check
with
> my friend for the URL, but there is a good one. Unfortunately people
take
> advantage of ignoring it too often. Norma
Oh, that's rich. I agree: They "take advantage of ignoring it
too often," because they are far better posters for so doing!
I will say it again: While I have no idea if I have read every
Usenet posting guide (and in fact the very notion gives me a
terrible headache) the ones I read weren't worth the proverbial
hill of beans. They were more fantasies than guides. They
were plainly written by prating jack***** and prattling twits
who never had any Usenet existence worth mentioning in
the first place.
When I ran a Deja-background check on a couple
of these "Usenet authorities," it was a few years back, but
the experience was most helpful. Those I investigated were
Deja-nonentities when they posted their guides. One of them
HAD been a frequent poster at one time, but had rarely posted
since 1990! Nothing like staying up to date, of course, since
Usenet customs and practices are carved in stone, as we all
know. The other one NEVER seemed to have posted
ANYTHING. So, please tell me how someone who is a Deja
or Google non-entity or evena near non-entity with a skimpy
history gains the experience needed to write any such credible
guide?
The first rule of Usenet is you are what you post.
If you only learn ONE thing about Usenet culture, Norma, be sure
it is that. It is not "you are what you read," however helpful and
rewarding post-reading may be.
Don't bother telling me our guide-writers can READ newsgroups,
then. That's not good enough. That's sort of like someone who
has never flown an airplane reading some books on the topic
and then setting themselves up as a flight instructor. Nobody
would give such a miserable charlatan a jot of credence, but it
amazes me that a few people will take posting advice from
someone who has never been an active participant in Usenet.
While you can certainly find plenty of free entertainment reading
newsgroups, you have not experienced Usenet unless you
plunge in and drink deeply of the thoughtstream, by which I
mean enjoy the spontaneous give-and-take of being an
active poster.
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > > I wouldn't put in a lot of technical things,
That would be a wise idea, since you know nothing
about them in the first place. Come to think of it, that
never seems to stop certain posters from expounding
at length on such matters, though.
nor would I talk about
> > > other news readers or means of posting besides Google Groups
> >
> > ...especially when your guide is obviously going to be so limited?
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > > Or I could talk about the real Nettiquette,
Sure. That's EXACTLY what every Usenet poster is
waiting for with bated breath. Nobody can find anything
about netiquette in Google, of course.
accept no cheap imitations:
the alt.genius.bill-palmer
--firing posts at passersby at random from an upstairs
window in rec.arts.prose
> >
> > <http://www.uwasa.fi/~ts/http/tsfaq.html>
> >
> > > what rules you can bend,
> >
> > Just out of interest, which 'rules' can you bend?
> >
> > > and which ones you not only can break but you *must* break
> >
> > and which 'rules' *must* you break?
> >
> > > if you're trying to break through.
> >
> > You have read <news:news.announce.newusers> and
> > <news:news.newusers.questions>, haven't you?
>
>
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